A Careless Man's Careful Daughter
by Sephy-Stabbity
Summary: Sei Youko. The story of a Shakespearean misunderstanding. Luckily, Eriko the creeper is around to help out, in her own special way.Rated T more for implied stuff, really. Read and Review!


Summary: Sei Youko. A Shakespearean sort of misunderstanding happens, but luckily Eriko the creeper is around to help out in her own special way.

**A Careless Man's Careful Daughter**

Every Saturday night, the two of them go to the small cafe set up near Sei's university. Youko secures a table for them. Sei stands in line to order (an expresso for herself, and a steeped tea with cream on the side for Youko) and cheerfully ignores the baleful glare of the cashier, as she chats up whichever girl is next to her in line.

Sometimes, they each have their work to do, so they do it side by side, companionably. Sometimes, they just chat. The night usually ends with them going out to see a movie or to try out the food at some new restaurant that they heard of.

It's a routine, and both of them have gotten used to it.

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"I was drunk so it doesn't count." Sei comments to Youko once. They are in the cafe. Youko is typing up her lecture notes, while Sei is idly surfing through websites waiting for Youko to finish up.

Youko looks up at the non-sequitor statement, puzzlement flashing across her face.

"A Facebook group," Sei explains, "that it says Eriko just joined."

Youko's smirk mirrors the one on Sei's face. "Well, she seems to be having fun at that liberal arts university of hers."

"More than fun, it seems." Sei quipped back, and for some reason, it seems so funny that they both start laughing hysterically, muffling the sound when the other patrons glare at them.

They both end up getting kicked out of the cafe anyways, for disrupting the silence, as the cashier puts it. Sei is unapologetic as usual, but she's surprised when Youko agrees with her that it was worth it.

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_Sometimes, usually right after they finish their exams, Sei and Eriko meet up at some bar and get drunk. It is their way of letting off stress. _

_They have had some insane conversations during these times._

_So Eriko doesn't think much of it, when one day, Sei abruptly asks her an unusual question. "Have you ever looked into Youko's eyes?"_

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"A party at your apartment, where the main objective is to get as drunk as possible?" Youko sounds sceptical, but Eriko only smiles.

"Something to blow off some steam after midterms, relax a bit." she replies. "My classmates are coming, and so are Sachiko and Rei. Why, aren't you interested?"

"What do you think the answer is?"

"It is what it is." Eriko says mysteriously, "I hear Sei is driving her way there."

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"Decided to start the drinking early?" Sei looks around at the voice, to see Youko leaning on the back of the sofa. Her smile is directed not at Sei but at the empty glass held in her hand.

Sei shrugs. "Always best to get at the good stuff before the party animals arrive, don't you think?" At this, Youko's smile turns to her, and Sei suddenly forgets what she was going to say next.

"Come sit with me." she says instead. "I'm so much more interesting than the rest of them."

Not many people hear Youko laugh even once. Sei can't help but like the fact that she gets to hear it all the time.

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"_Sometimes, when I look into her eyes, I feel like..."_

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They didn't mean for it to happen like this. They were just looking for a bathroom that wasn't occupied by someone having sex or throwing up or whatever else happened at these parties.

Youko didn't mean to open Eriko's giant wardrobe-that-doubled-as-a-small-room, she was just looking to relieve her bladder.

Sei didn't mean to close the door to the wardrobe behind her, she just wanted to keep away prying eyes, while she set about pranking "deko-chin" by tying all her prized brand-name scarves together.

And most definitely, they didn't mean to get locked up inside the wardrobe together.

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This isn't how either of them pictured the night to go, tangled up in each other in Eriko's wardrobe. Any other time, with any other girl, Sei would have made some lame joke about being back in the closet. But this isn't any other time, and Sei is painfully made aware, by the hammering of her heart in her chest, that Youko isn't any other girl.

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The party ends at midnight, but most of Eriko's drunken classmates are still littered haphazardly over her living room furniture.

Drunk as she is, Eriko momentary pauses in her deep musings on the purpose of life and why everything was created, to ask out loud, "Hey, where did those two go?"

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Surprisingly enough, it is Youko who makes the first move, tentatively reaching one hand out and cupping the left side of Sei's face.

"Sei...", she whispers the name like a prayer.

"Sei..."she repeats, and moves in closer, till her lips are inches away. But then she stays there, moving no further, just staring intensely at Sei.

Sei is afraid to look into those eyes. She is so afraid to see what she knows she _will_ see in them. So instead she closes her eyes and pulls Youko in, crushing their lips together.

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Sometimes, people say of Youko that she always gets her way, no matter who opposes her or what obstacles they throw in her path.

But here, closed up in this tight space, with Sei kissing her frenziedly, as though her life depends on it, Youko cannot help but doubt these people.

So she swallows the words she meant to say, and tangles her fingers in shoulder-length blond hair, fusing Sei's body to hers, until she cannot figure where she ends and Sei begins.

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"_I love you."_ the words are torn out from Youko in choked whispers as Sei undoes the buttons of her dress shirt. She gathers Sei closer and kisses the hollow of her neck, eliciting a gasp. The sound makes her want to smile, but cry at the same time. So instead she says _"I love you."_ and again, _"I love you."_

If Sei hears it, her only reply is to place her hands around Youko's now bare waist, and continue kissing her way down her body.

When the tears fall from her eyes onto Sei's hair, Youko hates herself for her weakness.

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Neither of them say anything when it's over. Just pick up their clothes, put them on, and quietly go their own ways.

Youko leaves by the back stairs.

Sei waits a while, then strolls out the front when Eriko is distracted by cleaning up the littered paper cups and plates.

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November is in full swing, and the snow has begun to fall, before Eriko realizes that her two best friends aren't talking to each other anymore. It is December before she decides to do something about it.

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It starts off as a normal Yamayuri gathering, held at Youko's house. Everyone is there except Shimako and Noriko, who are out of the country, having decided to take a year-long trip, to travel "wherever the heart takes them", as Yumi dreamily puts it.

No one is surprised when Yoshino suggests they play Spin the Bottle. After all, it is a staple of a girls' night in. The dares are dull, however, and the secrets even less interesting, so everyone's attention is only half on the game, and half on _Mean Girls, _which is playing on Youko's plasma screen.

It is when Eriko gets to spin, and the bottle ends up pointing at Youko, that events take a puzzling turn.

"So, Youko-chan, truth or dare, hmm?" The look on Eriko's face could be described as nothing less than pure evil, and Yoshino, the only one who was actually looking at the bottle rather than at the TV, could've sworn she saw Eriko's foot nudge it.

"Depends." Youko returns idly, only half paying attention "what's the truth, and what's the dare?"

"Well, this is all so sudden," Eriko deadpans, "Now I have to think something up. Oh, something just occurred to me right out of the blue, you know how I get these flashes of inspirations sometimes. How about you tell us your whereabouts on the night of my after-exams party, Youko-chan? I could've sworn you came there and then you just disappeared into thin air."

As if in unison, Youko's body freezes up, and Sei's face whips away from the screen to look at Eriko. Silences falls as the rest of the group senses the tension in the air, even though they do not know the cause of it.

Youko tilts her head, and her stare is intense as it bores into Eriko, but it only seems to amuse the latter further.

"And if I can't tell you that?" Youko's voice is even, measured, every inch the unflappable law student.

"Oh, dear me, now you've got me all disappointed."Eriko states dreamily, "I think I'll have to think up a really hard dare. But alas", she threw her hands up dramatically in emphasis, "since my imagination seems to be failing me, I'm afraid I'll have to go the cliché route, and ask you to kiss a girl here."

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"_...like there's infinity in her eyes, and I'm trapped inside, with nowhere else to go."_

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"So, what will it be, Youko?" Eriko smirks.

Youko face is focused downwards, hidden by the short bangs of her hair. Sei can almost see the calculations taking place in her head. Then she takes a deep breath and her head lifts.

"Well then", she replies casually, throwing the bottle back into the middle of the game, "since I can do neither the truth nor the dare, I guess that means I lose. I'll go order us some pizza while the rest of you keep playing." And she gracefully pushes off the floor and has already walked over to the phone and started dialling, before her friends have processed her words.

Slightly, bemused, the group goes back to playing cards. They are only more confused when a smug Eriko leans over to a stone-faced Sei and whispers, "Where I come from, Satou-san, they call that a rejection."

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It's evening. There's a cafe. One girl sits alone at a table.

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"_But she's free. To look around. To see other things. So many other things."_

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If Youko is surprised when Sei barges into the study room she booked at the university library on Saturday evening, she doesn't show it.

"You can't tell me you forgot!" Sei seethes, without further ado.

"I had exams. I needed a quiet place to study."

"Look, Youko," Sei pleads, "can we just talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about." Youko replied calmly. She puts down the pen and closes the book, tucking the papers inside neatly. "After all, I think Eriko said it best, didn't she?"

The look on Sei's face asks the question without her ever having to open her mouth.

Youko begins to put her things into her carrying bag, arranging them meticulously inside before she continues.

"As you quoted, Sei, when you're drunk it doesn't count." And with that said, she is out the door and Sei is left standing behind in the study room.

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"_While all I can see is her."_

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The cashier at Cafe Supreme prides herself on her ability to remember her regulars' orders. She is not happy, therefore, when the blond-haired haired woman comes in by herself and orders the espresso.

Putting away the two small cups of cream that she had already involuntarily picked up, she mutters to herself that "things are a-changin', Marie. Nobody ever stays the same no more."

The woman she serves next is not a regular, so she just routinely does up the medium latte ordered, and moves on, taking only half-a-second to rake her eyes disparagingly over the neon green hair-band holding back the girl's auburn hair.

Her attention does not stay long enough on the girl to see her walk over to the blonde, and take the seat opposite hers.

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"Your sense of style only gets worse the longer you stay in art school, Deko-chin.", Sei said by way of greeting, and then returned to staring moodily out the window.

"Hello to you too, birthday girl." Eriko quipped, taking a sip of her latte. "Mm, piping hot, just the way I like it." she nodded appreciatively.

"I'm sure you could have found a cafe much closer to your apartment, if 'piping hot' was what you wanted", Sei grumped.

"What I wanted" Eriko replied, "was to find out what exactly happened to my friends on the night of the night of my party, that now they can barely stand to be in the same room as each other without making an excuse to leave."

"What you want," Sei shot back, "is to meddle."

"Oh, no." Eriko smiled blissfully as she inhaled the aroma from her coffee. "I think that's a job reserved for someone else, don't you think?"

"Well since _someone_ has obviously gone AWOL, I guess the position is open."

"So here's a little pearl of wisdom for you..." Eriko began, dismissing Sei's interruption.

"Which I did not ask for, just like I did not ask you to share this table with me." Sei finished for her.

"I'm going to ignore what you just said, and generously continue with that I was actually going to say."

Eriko's smile suddenly disappeared, and when her eyes opened, they drilled into Sei, like augers.

"Youko doesn't drink, Sei. She never has, in her life."

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The cashier thinks it more than strange when the blonde regular rushes past her to the door, without her customary farewell grin. But she's even more confused, when the girl with the horrendous green hair-band strolls past her and points her finger at the retreating figure.

"Always losing things, that girl. Lucky she's got friends like me to find them for her. Anyhow, thanks for the coffee, but I need to leave now. I have one more stop before I call it a night." And with that cryptic comment, she exits also, and the cashier is left alone, to ponder morosely on the mysterious workings of the world.

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"What do you mean, she's not here?" Sei yells at the doorman. "Of course she's here, this is her residence, she lives here!"

"Maybe she went home for the weekend. Students do that." the doorman is unmoved by her agitation, "I can't buzz you up unless she replies to her call, and she's not replying. Go home, miss."

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_Youko is woken up from her impromptu evening nap by the phone ringing. Stifling a yawn, she presses 'call accept' and places the receiver to her ear. _

"_Youko," the voice says without preamble, "Christmas is a lonely time without friends around. Especially for Sei, don't you think?"_

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So Sei goes home.

What she doesn't expect to see when she gets home, is Youko sitting on her doorstep, hair half-covered by the snow falling from the eaves. In her hands, there is a white cake-box tied with a red ribbon. She looks up at Sei as she draws near, and her mouth opens to speak.

"Happy Birthday."

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"..." Sei really cannot think of anything to say in reply to that.

"I came to talk, Sei."

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Sei walks to her apartment door, unlocks it, and silently holds it open for Youko to enter. She finds a towel to dry her hair, and lights up the fire, before she speaks.

"So. Talk."

"I wasn't drunk, Sei" Youko's voice is brittle. "When kissed you, I meant it. When I said I loved you, I meant it. And when you didn't reply and I cried, I meant that too."

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Youko was prepared for anger, or shock or even derisive laughter, in response to her words. What she didn't expect was silence. It was oppressive, unbearable, and despite herself, she felt the tears begin to sting at her eyes again.

So she gets up, picks up her bag, and prepares to leave.

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But, suddenly Sei is blocking the way to the door and has a death grip on her wrist, it is impossible to shake her off without amputation, and _Youko likes her hand whole, thank you very much._

So she stands still, giving enough time for Sei to take her by the shoulders and turns her around.

"Remember what you said?" Sei asked. "About it not counting if you're drunk?"

Youko opens her mouth, but her vocals cords seem to have taken a vacation. So she nods instead.

Sei takes a deep breath. "Well, I wasn't drunk either, so I guess it does count."

Sei would dearly have loved to have a camera on hand at that moment. Because to see not just a speechless Youko, but a shocked, speechless Youko? It was priceless.

"Sei..." Youko work moisture into her mouth and started again, "Sei..."her voice is hoarse.

"Youko." Sei replies simply. She twines her fingers through Youko's, and stares into her eyes.

They stay like that for a while, taking in each other.

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And then Sei says the words that she meant to say a long time ago.

"I love you too, Youko."

- THE END –

A/N: I hate this fanfic. It took me forever to write, and I really should've been studying for my stats exam instead T_T

Oh and if u know where the title came from, kudos, you have good taste in music =]


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